plant photo of the day

Overtime Season Day 8: If ever see another marigold again I think I might be sick.

For the longest time orchids intimidated me. Perhaps it was their exotic look, seemingly unusual growth habit, or the fact that the majority of them have a $35.00 price tag and up. Contrary to popular belief orchids are extremely easy plants to grow. Having your orchid survive for years on end seems impossible to some but with a little research success can be yours. I bought this Phalaenopsis hybrid at Garden Works in the off season for the awesome price of $10.00. It was out of flower at the time and looked rather uninteresting, still I knew it had some hidden beauty. Nearly 3 months later it rewarded me with these incredible blooms. In the end I think it was almost more exciting to buy this orchid out of flower, as I didn’t know what to expect. Sure enough, with a little patience I was rewarded for my efforts. Amazing!

You know you can find a garden in the most unlikely of places. A friend of mine dabbles with gardening and although he takes a completely different approach to it then myself, he ends up with some beautiful results. A busy guy by nature, he spends much of his time following electronic music, longboarding, snowboarding and chasing women. All of these ambitions mixed with a fulltime + job leads to very little time for one’s garden. Sometime’s his container garden gets a bit crispy in the summer, and yet some things just thrive. A perfect example of this is his sempervivum pots.

Incredible to say the least, he’s got a good collection of different varieties and they always look extremely healthy. Here is a plant that thrives in dry conditions, sometimes my garden is a bit too lush and semps don’t enjoy wet feet. He sent me this photo the other day and I thought it worthy to put up here.
If you want a low maintenance garden pot, try out sempervivums, fool proof and awesome!

Tips and tales about gardening in one of the most mild climates in Canada. Specializing in rare and strange plants from far out destinations, this is the story of an obsessed young gardener in Victoria B.C. Let's create more tropical gardens in the garden city on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.